Photo credit: the Pulse
I am not necessarily a gourmet. And this could be because I am no gourmand. Something tells me it’s because I eat sparingly. In fact, I’m not the best of customers to food sellers.
That’s why I always wonder when people say they are going to have a seven course meal. I know they may eventually not have more than just a little of each of the seven courses, but then that little might be too much for me.
But, to every rule there could be an exception. Try me with pounded yam from Ondo. When I say pounded yam, I mean real pounded yam.
Not poundo yam. And definitely not the one made with a yam pounding machine.
You see the sweat of the yam pounders trickling into what they are pounding is part of the ritual.
To start the ritual proper, the pounded yam must be as soft as the ear lobe. The preferred soup is always efo riro, vegetable with bush meat. When I was schooling at the Source, the food sellers prepared bat meat. Although the bat itself is a small animal, it is very bony. But when you try it with iyan, oh…you’ll be biting your tongue!
To put additional taste into the soup, add some goujons. If you want to enjoy it more, put some orisirisi.
And what’s more?
Send for fresh undiluted palm wine. It has to be fresh and undiluted. For that, I recommend Ile Ife and Ado Odo.
Nobody needs to remind you of it’s oriki:
Iyan l’onje
Oka l’oogun
Airi rara l’a n jeko
K’enu ma dile niti guguru.
If you can have this meal for a week, people will be forced to ask what medication you are taking.
City life has alienated most of us from our traditional values. It’s so bad that we end up eating junk. In fact, the Western world is running away from the fast food culture.
But what do we have here? You’ll see some parents picking their wards from school and resuming at a fast food restaurant. And this is not an occasional affair. It is very constant.
Let’s have a rethink!
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